After a three-year delay, a new $60.1 million health services centre (HSC) at CFB Petawawa is expected to be completed by this summer.
The project includes construction of a new, 9,740-square-metre, two-storey facility in Petawawa, Ont., which will replace the old HSC and dental annex on the base. It is led by the Department of National Defence (DND), with the support of Defence Construction Canada, a federal Crown corporation, who is the contracting authority for DND infrastructure and environment projects.
The $30.6-million contract was awarded to Bondfield Construction in 2016. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
“While work at the facility is ongoing, we have faced project delays of approximately three years, mostly due to the Bondfield Construction’s court filing under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act in March 2019,” said Andrée-Anne Poulin, spokesperson for National Defence, in an email to the Daily Commercial News.
“Although Bondfield finished a majority of the required work, we had to issue several smaller contracts to finish the work. This, alongside with delays caused by worldwide supply chain shortages, delayed the project. The project is still on-budget, with investments having generated approximately 160 jobs during construction.”
The facility is expected to open its doors in August.
“We are currently on-track to complete the project in early summer 2022, versus the originally-planned date of 2019,” stated Poulin. “We expect it to open in August, with first moves scheduled to begin mid-June.”
The total project value is $60.1 million and construction and design contracts awarded for the project are about $33 million. The $1.49 million design contract was awarded to Dialog Inc, while the $30.6M construction contract was awarded to Bondfield.
The other costs include project management and government contracting agency costs, design and engineering fees, equipment and furnishings, demolition costs, telecommunications, security fees, contingency and taxes.
Currently, health care services at CFB Petawawa are provided from four different locations on base.
“The new Health Services Centre will improve readiness-based care and provide new benefits and improved service levels in the future,” Poulin said.
“This new HSC will consolidate all existing medical, dental, physiotherapy and mental health services centre at the base into one integrated, centrally located facility.”
The new facility will also incorporate green building features to support the federal government’s climate objectives.
By building to LEED Silver standards, the centre is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from DND’s buildings and non-military vehicles by 40 per cent (from 2005 levels) by 2030, while working toward the federal target of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, Poulin said.
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